A/n: very excited to get these chapters out of the way so I can write more Fluff! Also sorry I've been gone for a month lol. Creative block y'know?
Summary: The events following SvS leave Roman and Deceit broken and sick, one more so than the other. Roman goes into creative shut down and its up to Deceit to fix him. Only problem? He can’t just deceive Roman back to health.
Characters: Roman Sanders, Janus Sanders
Warnings for THIS chapter (SPOILERS)
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The frog monster howled in pain as the ugly truth shocked and sparked into every major vein and artery in his body. Deceit frowned. Shoving the hard ugly truth of Patton's less than honest actions lately wasn't nearly as fun as he'd been imagining. Or maybe it was Roman crying over his friend that was killing his mood.
Roman. Fucking, Roman. Of all the sides who had to be here to see this, it just had to be Roman. Deceit wasn't necessarily an optimist, but he had been thinking of ways he could potentially fix this disaster he had created. He had hoped that maybe trying to sleep away his anguish would have made him feel better and not regret it, but all it did was make him more upset that he slept in an empty bed at night. Or slept alone anywhere really.
Yes, the truth was he missed Roman. He missed his smile. He missed the way he laughed. He missed the way he'd ask several personal questions. Deceit missed Roman dearly, and not just because he loved him. He missed his company most of all. He was bright and warm like Patton, but in his own special way, and Deceit had been filled with a hungry yearning for that light and warmth.
Deceit shuddered. Yearning.
"Here's the thing, Patton: pushy is pushy. That faux-flexible rhetoric that you're using to soften your approach, doesn't change your intentions. It just...." Deceit's shepard's crook began to whirr with yellow energy. "Disguises them." He stuck his crook in the air again, letting it charge up before aiming and unleashing all of that raw energy onto the frog.
Patton squealed in pain as the harsh truth, something he had valued dearly, mercilessly infiltrated and fried every nook and cranny in his body. Roman gagged as the stench of burnt frog radiated across the flaming hellscape. Where the fuck was this magical crook when they were fighting the Dragonwitch??? Why couldn't Deceit just vaporize his way out of that monsters clutches and save him the trauma of having to evade certain death SEVERAL TIMES to save his ass!? Roman didn't know what to be madder about! Whether he should be mad at Deceit physically harming his best friend, or the fact that Deceit had EVERY capability to cause serious damage and he never employed it once on their little trip from hell.
"That was just a hypothetical! Patton's not actually suggesting that Thomas should pursue martyrdom!" Roman barked back at Deceit, stepping out fully now in front of the frog. If Deceit should so choose to attack his friend again, he'd have to go through him.
He was surprised to see that Deceit looked a little shocked, and was even more so confused when the snake took a few retreating steps. Roman glared daggers at him; what was he playing at here?
"Right! I don't want Thomas to croak. That's my job!" Said the frog, who then croaked.
"We're talking about "what-if"s? Worst case scenarios kind of stuff!" Roman stabbed his sword into the dirt.
"What I am saying is that... Thomas has a really good life that other people... Dont. You're over here talking about putting on your oxygen mask before helping another passenger, but we're not in a crashing plane!" Patton said. The ground around the frog's feet began to glow blue.
Roman looked down the growing blue under the frog. He gasped slightly, and began to inch away. He didn't believe it was possible for a side like Patton to manifest emotions this...
"If the situation was that serious, then sure he could entirely focus on himself! But does he deserve it?" Patton said, rearing up to his full towering height. "I don't know."
Deceit caught something glimmering in his eye. It was then that he noticed that Patton had been slightly radiating blue light. His eyes widened slightly in horror. Deceit didn't have time to-
"And I don't know if I can believe whatever you tell me!" Patton said, and before Deceit could react, he shot back his own bitter emotions towards Deceit.
Deceit quickly dodged out of the way, covering his face with his cape to avoid getting burned by that blast of emotions and poor logic. Patton's emotions were hot with rage but ice cold and frigid with fear. That would have been a devastating and critical hit. Deceit landed safely a few feet away from the frog. He tried to jump up to his feet. A full body pain suddenly wracked his body, causing him to scream a little before falling to his knees. Deceit clutched his heart and neck. It felt like he was on fire. But he didn't get hit-.... Unless.
Deceit cracked his eyes open and looked back to Thomas. He had been hit.
Next to the frog, Deceit saw Roman on the ground in a similar position. He must have felt the blast too.
"Treating yourself... Is something that you can take too far." Said the Frog.
Deceit looked up now at Patton. Or maybe it wasn't Patton. Whatever this... parasite was, it had tightened moralities blind fold, maybe fatally tight. As much shame and guilt as he felt right now, Deceit knew it was nothing compared to what Patton would feel when he calmed down. Roman, Roman wouldn't be able to recover from this either.
"You can take anything too far!" Deceit got to his feet and pointed his staff threateningly at the frog. The tip of it sparked yellow. Deceit found himself staring into the eyes of the frog, searching for any remains of Patton to latch onto. Any remnant traces of humanity left within him. All he found was darkness behind Lilypadton's bulging yellow eyes. Deceit hated to admit it, but the fear he saw in the frog's eyes was all too familiar.
"You've taken things too far." Deceit said, softly this time, and took a few steps back. "The plane is going down." He looked back at Thomas, who was sitting up now and holding his head.
"You need to give Thomas.... Some room to breath." Said Deceit, turning to stare down the frog.
"Ok. Run it by me again." Virgil was irritatedly pinching the bridge of his nose. Remus was still in his room, and the of them were all but aware of the literal raging hell storm going on outside.
"Ookaaaaayyy here we go again from the top!" Remus took a deep breath. "So shoot back a couple months ago Roman is a big depressed loser because he realizes how stupid it was for him to sentence Thomas to the call back and so he runs into the imagination and turns gray so basically now in the story he's a powerless depressed loser and then he runs into Janus-" Remus hadn't taken a breath since he started talking. Virgil spat his coffee.
"Don't just go around tossing his name around like that!!! Do you want him to show up!?" Virgil barked.
"Oh suck it Virgey and lemme finish!" Remus stuck his tongue out him. "Anyway so JANUS is all like-" Remus jumped to one side of the room and shifted his form too look like Janus. "Hurr durr you big fucking depressed loser you're fucking pathetic come hang out with me and then Roman was like-" Remus then jumped to the other side of the room and took on the appearance of his brother. "Oh woe is me I'm a big sad baby yes big daddy-deceit please take care of me-" Remus started to make several loud, wet, and otherwise nasty kissing noises.
"Okay okay okay I got that part skip ahead!" Virgil spat.
"Ugh you waist my talents!" Remus huffed, morphing back into his lovely disgusting self. "Anyway, so then I sent a night terror to attack them, knowing good ol' Self Preservation himself would use his own body as a shield to help Roman. Then I sent a Dragonwitch to originally kill Roman but it ended up kidnapping Janus instead. Then Roman rescued Janus and it was all raining and cold and they snuggled up in a cave and I'm 100% sure they kissed dude." Remus put his hands on his sides and smirked. "Maybe even with tongue."
Virgil cringed. He didn't know what sounded grosser. Roman kissing Janus or Janus kissing anyone in general. "How are you 100% certain they kissed, Remus? Were you there?"
"Ew no!" Remus cringed. "I may be one sick twisted fuck, but watching my brother and my best friend kissing and or tonguing each other up in a cave is a line I'm not willing to cross!"
"Well then how do you know!?" Virgil snapped.
"There was a minor curse!" Remus threw his hands up. "Dragonwitch. Dragon. WITCH. The Dragonwitch cursed DeeDee so he was half snake. Like really half snake. Snake tail and all. Snake ass. Snass-" Remus droned on.
"Get to the point!" Virgil rubbed his face, this conversation was going in a direction he'd rather not go.
"OKAY! So basically when there's a curse there will always be a counter to said curse. Not my idea but whatever- anyway. Roman HAD to have kissed Dee to reverse that curse." Remus smacked his forehead. "Ohhhh shit it was-"
"True loves kiss." Virgil groaned and ran his hands through his hair.
Virgil wasn't an innocent little lamb. He wasn't a perfect person and he wasn't always the best person to go to judge someones character. He had plenty of his own personal qualms with Deceit. Personally, he could have cared less whether Deceit was happy or not in general. Roman on the other hand was a different story. Virgil wasn't really the type to go meddling around in other people's relationships. If he had known about this he would have stayed out of it entirely. But the damage was already done. He probably accidently and unjustly criminalized Deceit, and ruined what little faith Roman had in finding personal love.
It was a conflict of interest that he'd rather not be interested in. Again, he could care less about whether or not Deceit felt held by someone. He didn't care if the snake was warm or secure. He did care about Roman and his ties with romance and how this whole thing affected him. On one hand he wanted to just sweep this whole mess under the rug. Never look back. Hope that there actually was some twisted motive behind Deceit's actions and pray that Roman wouldn't hurt forever. On the other hand, he was starting to feel... Guilty. He meddled in something that wasn't his business, costing what might have been someone's relationship, and how those two individuals operated and collaborated in Thomas's head.
Ugh. Where was Patton when he needed him?
"Well when is it enough!?" Roman snapped his head towards Thomas, who was looking at him.
Deceit looked at his disregarded Prince. He rolled his head forward and quirked a brow. His eye's softened and he opened his mouth slightly.
"No, selfishness! How long must we act selfishly until Thomas is ready to start putting... more good into the world?" Roman huffed and gestured his arms forward. Gesturing towards the World.
If you looked close enough to the angry, yet mortified gaze of the prince, you could almost see what he was seeing. Deceit, as observant and slightly captivated by Roman as he was, caught a glimpse of it only for a moment. Observant was the Snake. Deceit had such a vast new understanding of the imagination now. He understood what went on in that hot little head Roman had.
He wondered how Roman perceived the World. When he mentioned it, Deceit wondered if he was talking about the imagination or the real world. When will Thomas be ready to put more good things and feelings into his head!? When will Thomas be able to make the world a better place!? When will Thomas be allowed to feel good about good things he does for people!? Deceit didn't know...
"A good question for another time." Deceit nodded, almost nervously and stepped back.
Roman looked at him with a sharp scowl. A hawk's gaze. Deceit felt trapped by his eyes. He suddenly felt so... Small. And insignificant. And helpless. It made the Snake swallow sharply. That's what he felt like. A snake caught under the crushing talons of a hawk getting ready to bite his head off.
"But I'm sure you'd have us believe that time will never come. And even if it does, what's to stop you from telling us that we've done enough good for others, when maybe we could do more!" Roman flared up, words sharper than hawk's talons. "Oh, Thomas dropped a dime in a Saint Jude charity box. What a good boy you are, Thomas." The Prince loosened and swayed his shoulders, while doing his best to purse his face into a look of general boredom and disinterest, as he lazily clapped his hands. It was very much obviously a purposely poor Deceit impression. Deceit was honestly flattered. "Nay, I say! We are ethically compromised if we give the Bananaconda a seat at the table!" Finally Roman shot his hawk glare back at Deceit. Roman wasn't sure if he was blushing or just red in the face.
"....I don't know that we are." Thomas admitted.
Roman's anger began to drop his face. It began to turn into shock. What was he thinking!?
"We can't trust him. He's asking us to go back on things we've known for years, rights and wrongs, shoulds and shouldn'ts. How can we trust him?!"
Roman began to sound desperate. His words got quicker and his breaths got shorter. He wanted to scream.
The only way he could imagine shutting that goddamn snake up for good was by putting him where he never got to be. The spotlight. The world was his stage after all, as Deceit so liked to imagine. The world was his stage, and they were all just performers in his Teach Thomas How To Lie drama, complete with 4 acts, and later on two impersonations, his very own fucking brother, and his best friend turning into a giant frog.
Roman wanted to bellow out what Deceit had done. Or at least tried to do. What his intentions were. What may be his future plans. But with the way things were going, that didn't look too good. On top of that, what if Deceit retaliated? He did last time his plan failed, and now Remus was stronger than ever. What would Deceit do next time...? Roman couldn't risk it, but he also couldn't risk a side like Deceit getting anymore powerful.
But then, as if things couldn't get any worse, Deceit spoke up.
"...I don't have a simple answer to that question..." Deceit looked at his glove.
Roman watched as he examined his hand. Counting the threads and stitches that held his gloves together. A pit formed in his stomach. Deceit was going to-
"But here's a start." Deceit began to unclasp the glove on his right hand. Slowly. Hesitantly. Deceit was... Afraid.
He wasn't sure what he was doing. Deceit was nervous. If he hadn't been in front of Thomas, maybe he'd be shaking. Deceit felt colder than usual, the blood draining from his face.
Deceit had a complicated relationship with life. He was unsure whether to imagine himself as an individual, dwelling inside the mind of something far advanced than he was. Or as simply, what he was, a facet. Being imaginary never really helped. He knew that personal things he enjoyed weren't real. Like his gloves. They weren't real. They weren't really personal to him either. Everything he did, everything he was was a product of something else.
Except for his name. That was his, and his alone. It was the one thing that made him feel real. He had guarded it like it was something precious for so long. Deceit glanced back at Thomas., who was looking at him with wide eyes.
But for him... Deceit would give it all.
Roman widened his eyes. He wouldn't. Not this easily. For a brief second Roman was reminded of the balcony, and the stars that Deceit had stolen in his scales. They saw beyond each others facets, and for a moment the both of them felt real. It wasn't Creativity and Deceit on the balcony in someone elses imagination that night. It was Roman and his nameless lover on the balcony in his kingdom.
Roman wanted to beg him not too. He didn't think he could bare knowing Deceit's name. It was because Roman had spent so long demonizing Deceit, he had almost convinced himself that Deceit and the nameless man were two different people. The nameless man from the balcony, and who called him sublime, and kissed him desperately, wouldn't have tried to hurt him?
Deceit pulled his gloves off, revealing his slightly scaled hand, and his sharp nails that he kept meticulously panted black. He saw Patton wince slightly at the points. Deceit relaxed his fingers, and glanced one last time to Roman. His eyes were soft, as was the rest of his expression.
"My name is Janus." He breathed, and then inhaled sharply.
Janus heard Roman burst into laughter to his right. He looked to see the prince doubled over himself, hand on his face, laughing hysterically. Janus felt himself get angry.
Roman really wanted to say he was laughing from nervousness or just general anxiety. But honestly that moment was just so tense and then woah plot twist. Deceit's name sounded fucking stupid. Janus?
"Janus?" Roman asked, stifling his laugh. "What are you a middle school librarian?" He sighed, a big grin on his face as he attempted to wave Janus off. "It's a stupid name."
Janus's eye twitched. As much adoration and love he had for Roman, leave it to him of all people to insult the one thing he could honestly call his own. Damn him.
"Oh Roman, thank god you don't have a mustache." Janus scoffed and backed up now, lips twitching angrily. So much for 'first' impressions. "Otherwise between you and Remus... I wouldn't know who the evil twin is."
Thomas and Patton looked to Janus, who shrunk in and hid himself under his capelet, but kept his face stone cold. It looked like he was retreating into himself. Roman looked at him now, he felt like had been hit with Remus's morning star again. Had he not been so put off all of a sudden, maybe he would have seen Janus putting up his walls again.
They shared a glance. If Thomas and Patton weren't there, Roman was about half certain he and Janus would have tore each other to shreds.
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